I know that those of you who are parents of wee young ones have been promised that the sleepless nights are temporary—short-lived, and soon you will be getting full, uninterrupted sleep again. Well, if “temporary” and “soon” are relative terms meant to compare to the entire age of the cosmos, and then yes, maybe you will. But I have to honestly confess that unless my kids are out of the house, away, or I am out of the house and sleeping somewhere where they are not, my sleep is still interrupted. The good thing is, we just get used to it…
Recently, there’s a new midnight activity at my house and I also must confess that I am eager to see it pass—cooking. This is one of those symptoms of the quirky biological clock of the teenager—unless my kids are sick, they can’t seem to get themselves to bed before midnight and for some reason, a bowl of cereal no longer suffices for the midnight snack.
They can’t seem to figure out how, no matter how quiet they think they are being downstairs in the kitchen, it wakes mom up every single time. Okay, I’m a single mom—my nose is so trained—if there’s a stove burner, hair straightener, or oven left on in my house—I’m there. I haven’t yet managed to get them to understand how disconcerting it is to wake up in the middle of the night to the smell of something burning.
Not to mention, I am a bit of a “neat freak”—there’s something about being a busy single parent that makes keeping my house organized and clean an important piece of adequate functioning. I am one of those people who never leave dishes in the sink (okay, maybe a spoon) or can leave the kitchen without wiping down the counters one more time. So, when I head upstairs to go to bed, my kitchen is clean. The idea of someone rustling around in there and leaving crumbs and macaroni-and-cheese sauce powder on the counter tends to make it tough for me to sleep too deeply.
I’m a patient woman. And I have a reasonably well developed sense of humor. But I have to say I am ready to see the midnight cooking phase pass. Does anyone know how to disconnect the power to the stove?